Estimating thread useage? What would you do?
#11
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#12
I have the same app on my android phone. It does have the option of selecting lightly quilted, moderately quilted or heavily quilted. When I put in twin size and heavily quilted, it gave me the amount of 1200 yards for top thread only. Double it for both. Moderately quilted in the twin size said 800 yards.
#13
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I have the same app on my android phone. It does have the option of selecting lightly quilted, moderately quilted or heavily quilted. When I put in twin size and heavily quilted, it gave me the amount of 1200 yards for top thread only. Double it for both. Moderately quilted in the twin size said 800 yards.
So with 7 colors, it seems like I should be able to use 1,000 meters each, but I just don't know if I should get the cones instead. It doubles the cost, but the cost per meter is much better.
#14
One person's "heavily quilted" probably differs from another. I haven't actually used the app yet (except just now. lol) but maybe I'll keep track of how much thread I use in a "normally quilted for me" lap quilt and write it down somewhere.
#15
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http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t230619.html
The quilt measures 90 x 90 or therabouts. You can see I did quite a bit of heavy quilting in the green with all that back and forth fill behind the diamonds. I barely put a dent in the small 1000 meter cone. The white in this quilt is glide. I used magnaglide bobbins so didn't use any of this thread in the bobbin. I went through about 20 magnaglide bobbins so that would increase my usage of cone considerably. I just went and checked how much glide is on a magnaglide delight bobbin. I went through 20 so this quilt used approximately 2,640 yards for just the bobbin, double that for both so a bit over 5,000 yards (which is close enough to a meter we can practically interchange the measurements in this example). I would probably classify this quilt as medium amount of quilting. There is some pebbling in the center and the backfill in the green I would consider heavily quilted.
If you went through 6000 meters on a 48" square, I would say that is probably VERY heavily quilted and in places flirting with thread painting. Of course loads of traveling will do that too, like lots and lots of pebbling.
Last edited by feline fanatic; 10-22-2013 at 09:27 AM.
#16
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#17
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Are these thread colours that you would use again? If so, I would definitely bite the bullet and get the large cones of at least three colours, making sure that they are the ones with the largest area in the quilt, and assuming I can use them in other areas if I run short. If no substituting can be done, or they really are all equal, I would get the large cones of all.
I try to do risk/benefit analysis in these cases: I would be mildly disgruntled about paying twice as much for the thread. On the other hand, if I ran out, had to reorder, then wait for it to come in, and waste money on a second shipping charge, I would be really, really unhappy. So, I would pay up front to avoid the possible annoyance later.
At your Isacord prices, you're spending an extra $24.50 to get the 5000m spools. To me, the hours you're going to put into quilting this thing are worth way more than that. And you're getting an extra 28000m of thread... the more I think about it, the more the sure I am that the big spools are the way I would go!
This sounds like it's going to be an amazing quilt. Be sure to post pictures when you get it done!
I try to do risk/benefit analysis in these cases: I would be mildly disgruntled about paying twice as much for the thread. On the other hand, if I ran out, had to reorder, then wait for it to come in, and waste money on a second shipping charge, I would be really, really unhappy. So, I would pay up front to avoid the possible annoyance later.
At your Isacord prices, you're spending an extra $24.50 to get the 5000m spools. To me, the hours you're going to put into quilting this thing are worth way more than that. And you're getting an extra 28000m of thread... the more I think about it, the more the sure I am that the big spools are the way I would go!
This sounds like it's going to be an amazing quilt. Be sure to post pictures when you get it done!
#18
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Thanks for your thoughts on the thread.
Here is a mock up of what my concept is- the background will be all black on black quilting. I'm thinking about putting black metallic feathers in the background, and am still trying to decide if I want to do trapunto and have a 'thick' circle, instead of just a single line like below. These thread colors aren't very accurate RGB/CMY they were just what I had on hand.
#19
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I would spend some time shopping around to find a better shipping deal. there are a lot of shops out there that offer free shipping at reasonable levels (like $35-$50) and also shops that actually charge actual shipping instead of a flat amount across the board. if you call them they may also work with you on the shipping- be willing to put the thread in a priority envelope that costs about $3.95 to send. I have found when I've taken the time to call a shop they are (most of the time) willing to work with you on shipping- if they are not I usually find somewhere else to get what I need.
#20
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If anyone has recommendations, I'd take them.
I know one place that offers $5 shipping, but the thread is $5.25 for 1000 meters, or 15.80 for 5000 meters, so a lot more expensive for the thread, and even with shipping, it comes out ahead the other place.
I know one place that offers $5 shipping, but the thread is $5.25 for 1000 meters, or 15.80 for 5000 meters, so a lot more expensive for the thread, and even with shipping, it comes out ahead the other place.
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